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Arya• Arya is a term meaning "noble" which was used as a
self-designation by Indian and Iranian or Indo-Iranian people.
• The word was used by the Indic people of the Vedic period in India as an ethnic label for themselves, as well as to refer to the noble class and geographic location known as Āryāvarta where Indo-Aryan culture was based.
• The closely related Iranian people also used the term as an ethnic label for themselves in the Avesta scriptures, and the word forms the etymological source of the country Iran.
Aryan• It was believed in the 19th century that it was also a self-
designation used by all Proto-Indo-Europeans, a theory that has now been abandoned..Scholars point out that, even in ancient times, the idea of being an "Aryan" was religious, cultural and linguistic, not racial.
• Drawing on misinterpreted references in the Rig Veda by Western scholars in the 19th century, the term "Aryan" was adopted as a racial category through the work of Arthur de Gobineau, whose ideology of race was based on an idea of blonde northern European "Aryans" who had migrated across the world and founded all major civilizations, before being degraded through racial mixture with local populations.
• Through Houston Stewart Chamberlain, Gobineau's ideas later influenced the Nazi racial ideology, which also saw "Aryan peoples" as innately superior to other putative racial groups.
• The atrocities committed in the name of this racial aryanism caused the term to be abandoned by most academics; and, in present-day academia, the term "Aryan" has been replaced in most cases by the terms "Indo-Iranian" and "Aryan" is now mostly limited to its appearance in the term of the "Indo-Aryan languages"
Etymology
The English word "Aryan" is borrowed from the Sanskrit word ārya, आय, meaning "noble" or "noble one".However, as a
translation of Latin Arianus (derived from Old Persian ariya), Arian has "long been in
English language use".
It was reintroduced into English with the new spelling by William Jones in the 18th
century.
Origins Theories
• Philologist J.P. Mallory argues that "As an ethnic designation, the word [Aryan] is most properly limited to the Indo-Iranians, and most justly to the latter where it still gives its name to the country Iran (from the Avestangenitive plural airyanam through later Iranian eran to iran).
• In ancient time, whole area of current India to Iran was known as Aryabart ( Land of Aryans).
Sanskrit and Avestan• In early Vedic literature, the
term Āryāvarta (Sanskrit: आयावत, abode of the Aryans) was the name given to northern India, where the Indo-Aryan culture was based.
• The Manusmṛti (2.22) gives the name Āryāvarta to "the tract between the Himalaya and the Vindhya ranges, from the Eastern (Bay of Bengal) to the Western Sea (Arabian Sea)".
• Initially the term was used as a national name to designate those who worshipped the Vedic deities (especially Indra) and followed Vedic culture (e.g. performance of sacrifice, Yajna)
• In early Vedic literature, the term Āryāvarta (Sanskrit: आयावत, abode of the Aryans) was the name given to northern India, where the Indo-Aryan culture was based. The Manusmṛti (2.22) gives the name Āryāvarta to "the tract between the Himalaya and the Vindhya ranges, from the Eastern (Bay of Bengal) to the Western Sea (Arabian Sea)“.
• Initially the term was used as a national name to designate those who worshipped the Vedic deities (especially Indra) and followed Vedic culture (e.g. performance of sacrifice, Yajna).
Proto-Indo-Iranian
The Sanskrit term comes from proto-Indo-Iranian*arya-or *aryo-,the name used by the Indo-
Iranians to designate themselves.The Zendairya 'venerable' and Old
Persian ariya are also derivates of *aryo-, and are also self-designations.
• In Iranian languages, the original self-identifier lives on in ethnic names like "Alans" and "Iron".
• Similarly, the name of Iran is the Persian word for land/place of the Aryans.
Pre-Proto-Indo-IraniansIt has been postulated the Proto-Indo-European root word
is haerós with the meanings "members of one's own (ethnic) group, peer, freeman" as well as the Indo-Iranian meaning of Aryan. Derived from it were words like;
• the Hittite prefix arā- meaning member of one's own group, peer, companion and friend;
• Old Irish aire meaning freeman and noble• Gaulish personal names with Ario-• Avestan airya- meaning Aryan, Iranian in the larger sense• Old Indic ari- meaning attached to, faithful, devoted person
and kinsman• Old Indic aryá- meaning kind, favourable, attached to and
devoted• Old Indic árya- meaning Aryan, faithful to the Vedic religion.
Aryans Terminology In Indian/Sanskrit literature
• In Sanskrit and related Indic languages, ārya means "one who does noble deeds; a noble one".
• Āryāvarta "abode of the āryas" is a common name for North India in Sanskrit literature. Manusmṛti (2.22) gives the name to "the tract between the Himalaya and the Vindhya ranges, from the Eastern Sea to the Western Sea".
• The title ārya was used with various modifications throughout the Indian Subcontinent. Kharavela, the Emperor of Kalinga of around 1 BCE, is referred to as an ārya in the Hathigumpha inscriptions of the Udayagiri and KhandagiriCaves in Bhubaneswar, Odisha.
Aryans Terminology In Indian/Sanskrit literature
• The Gurjara-Pratihara rulers in the tenth century were titled "Maharajadhiraja of Āryāvarta".
• Various Indian religions, chiefly Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism, use the term ārya as an epithet of honour; a similar usage is found in the name of Arya Samaj.
• In Ramayana and Mahabharata, ārya is used as an honorific for many characters including Hanuman.
In Iranian literature• Unlike the several meanings connected with ārya- in Old
Indo-Aryan, the Old Persian term only has an ethnic meaning.
• That is in contrast to Indian usage, in which several secondary meanings evolved, the meaning of ar- as a self-identifier is preserved in Iranian usage, hence the word "Iran".
• The airya meant "Iranian", and Iranian anairya meant and means "non-Iranian".
• Arya may also be found as an ethnonym in Iranian languages, e.g., Alan and Persian Iran and OssetianIr/Iron The name is itself equivalent to Aryan, where Iran means "land of the Aryans,"and has been in use since Sassanid times
• The Avesta clearly uses airya/airyan as an ethnic name (Vd. 1; Yt. 13.143-44, etc.), where it appears in expressions such as airyāfi; daiŋˊhāvō "Iranian lands, peoples", airyō.šayanəm "land inhabited by Iranians", and airyanəm vaējō vaŋhuyāfi; dāityayāfi; "Iranian stretch of the good Dāityā", the river Oxus, the modern Āmū Daryā. In ancient time, Gurjar lived in amu daryaregion, This indicates that Gurjar are actual Arya.
• Old Persian sources also use this term for Iranians. Old Persian which is a testament to the antiquity of the Persian language and which is related to most of the languages/dialects spoken in Iran including modern Persian, the Kurdish languages, and Gilaki makes it clear that Iranians referred to themselves as Arya.
• The term "Airya/Airyan" appears in the royal Old Persian inscriptions in three different contexts:
• As the name of the language of the Old Persian version of the inscription of Darius I in Behistun
• As the ethnic background of Darius I in inscriptions at Naqsh-e-Rostam and Susa (Dna, Dse) and Xerxes I in the inscription from Persepolis (Xph)
• As the definition of the God of the Aryans, AhuraMazdā, in the Elamite language version of the Behistun inscription.
In Latin literature• The word Arianus was used to designate Ariana, the area
comprising present Herat in the western part of Afghanistan and ancient India.
• In 1601, Philemon Holland used 'Arianes' in his translation of the Latin Arianus to designate the inhabitants of Ariana. This was the first use of the form Arian verbatim in the English language.
• In 1844 James Cowles Prichard first designated both the Indians and the Iranians "Arians" under the false assumption that the Iranians as well as the Indians self-designated themselves Aria.
• The Iranians did use the form Airya as a designation for the "Aryans," but Prichard had mistaken Aria (deriving from OPer. Haravia) as a designation of the "Aryans" and associated the Aria with the place-name Ariana (Av. Airyana), the homeland of the Aryans.The form Aria as a designation of the "Aryans" was, however, only preserved in the language of the Indo-Aryans.
In European languages
• The term "Aryan" came to be used as the term for the newly discovered Indo-European languages, and, by extension, the original speakers of those languages. In the 19th century, "language" was considered a property of "ethnicity", and thus the speakers of the Indo-Iranian or Indo-European languages came to be called the "Aryan race", as contradistinguished from what came to be called the "Semitic race". By the late 19th century, among some people, the notions of an "Aryan race" became closely linked to Nordicism, which posited Northern European racial superiority over all other peoples. This "master race" ideal engendered both the "Aryanization" programs of Nazi Germany, in which the classification of people as "Aryan" and "non-Aryan" was most emphatically directed towards the exclusion of Jews.[55][note 6] By the end of World War II, the word 'Aryan' had become associated by many with the racial ideologies and atrocities committed by the Nazis.
Arya history in Avestan
• The term Arya is used in ancient Persian texts, for example in the behistun inscription from the 5th century BCE, in which the Persian kings Darius the Great and Xerxes are described as "Aryans of Aryan stock" (arya arya chiça). The inscription also refers to the deity Ahura Mazda as "the god of the Aryans", and to the ancient Persian language as "Aryan".
• In this sense the word seems to have referred to the elite culture of the ancient Iranians, including both linguistic, cultural and religious aspects.
• The word also has a central place in the Zoroastrian religion in which the "Aryan expanse" (Airyana Vaejah) is described as the mythical homeland of the Iranian people's and as the center of the world
Vedic Sanskrit• The term Arya is used 36 times in 34 hymns in the Rigveda.
According to Talageri (2000, The Rig Veda. A Historical Analysis) "the particular Vedic Aryans of the Rigveda were one section among these Purus, who called themselves Bharatas." Thus it is possible, according to Talageri, that at one point Arya did refer to a specific tribe.
• While the word may ultimately derive from a tribal name, already in the Rigveda it appears as a religious distinction, separating those who sacrifice "properly" from those who do not belong to the historical Vedic religion, presaging the usage in later Hinduism where the term comes to denote religious righteousness or piety. In RV 9.63.5, ârya "noble, pious, righteous" is used as contrasting with árāvan "not liberal, envious, hostile":índraṃ várdhanto aptúraḥ kṛṇvánto víśvam âryam apaghnánto
árāvṇaḥ"[the Soma-drops], performing every noble work, active, augmenting Indra's strength, driving away the godless ones."
(trans. Griffith)
Sanskrit Epics
• Arya and Anarya are primarily used in the moral sense in the Hindu Epics.
• People are usually called Arya or Anarya based on their behaviour.
• Arya is typically one who follows the Dharma.• This is historically applicable for any person
living anywhere in Bharata Varsha or vast India.
Ramayana• In the Ramayana, the term Arya can also apply to Raksasas or to
Ravana. In several instances, the Vanaras and Raksasas called themselves Arya. The vanara's king Sugriva is called an Arya(Ram: 505102712) and he also speaks of his brother Vali as an Arya (Ram: 402402434). In another instance in the Ramayana, Ravana regards himself and his ministers as Aryas (Ram: A logical explanation is that, Ravana and his ministers belonged to the highest varna (Ravana being a Brahmin), and Brahmins were generally considered 'noble' of deed and hence called Arya(noble).
• Thus, while Ravana was considered Arya (and regarded himself as such), he was not really an Arya because he was not noble of deeds. So, he is widely considered by Hindus as Anarya (non-Arya).
• The Ramayana describes Rama as: arya sarva samascaivasadaiva priyadarsanah, meaning "Arya, who worked for the equality of all and was dear to everyone.
Mahabharata• In the Mahabharata, the terms Arya or Anarya are often
applied to people according to their behaviour. Dushasana, who tried to disrobe Draupadi in the Kaurava court, is called an "Anarya" (Mbh:0020600253). Vidura, the son of a Dasi born from Vyasa, was the only person in the assembly whose behaviour is called "Arya", because he was the only one who openly protested when Draupadi was being disrobed by Dushasana.
• The Pandavas called themselves "Arya" in the Mahabharata (0071670471) when they killed Drona through deception.
• According to the Mahabharata, a person's behaviour(not wealth or learning) determines if he can be called an Arya. Also the whole Kuru clan was called as Anarya .
Religious point of Aryans
• The word ārya is often found in Hindu, Buddhist, and Jain texts. In the Indian spiritual context it can be applied to Rishis or to someone who has mastered the four noble truths and entered upon the spiritual path.
• According to J.L. Nehru, the religions of India may be called collectively ārya dharma, a term that includes the religions that originated in India (e.g. Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and possibly Sikhism).
Hinduism• "O my Lord, a person who is chanting Your holy name, although
born of a low family like that of a Chandala, is situated on the highest platform of self-realization. Such a person must have performed all kinds of penances and sacrifices according to Vedic literatures many, many times after taking bath in all the holy places of pilgrimage. Such a person is considered to be the best of the Arya family" (Bhagavata Purana 3.33.7).
• According to Swami Vivekananda, "A child materially born is not an Arya; the child born in spirituality is an Arya." He further elaborated, referring to the Manu Smriti: "Says our great law-giver, Manu, giving the definition of an Arya, 'He is the Arya, who is born through prayer.' Every child not born through prayer is illegitimate, according to the great law-giver: "The child must be prayed for. Those children that come with curses, that slip into the world, just in a moment of inadvertence, because that could not be prevented – what can we expect of such progeny?..."(Swami Vivekananda, Complete Works vol.8)
Buddhism• The word ārya (Pāli: ariya), in the sense "noble" or
"exalted", is very frequently used in Buddhist texts to designate a spiritual warrior or hero, which use this term much more often than Hindu or Jain texts. Buddha's Dharma and Vinaya are the ariyassadhammavinayo.
• The Four Noble Truths are called the catvāryāryasatyāni (Sanskrit) or cattāri ariyasaccāni (Pali). The Noble Eightfold Path is called the āryamārga (Sanskrit, also āryāṣṭāṅgikamārga) or ariyamagga (Pāli). Buddhists themselves are called ariyapuggalas (Arya persons).
• In Buddhist texts, the āryas are those who have the Buddhist śīla (Pāli sīla, meaning "virtue") and follow the Buddhist path. Those who despise Buddhism are often called "anāryas".
Current form of Aryans: Gurjar, JatRajputs of India
• The Vedic Vayupurana describes a battle waged among the ancient Aryans. It was as a result of this war that Anavs part of the Chandravanshi clan and Gurtar ( Guzar ) of suryabanshi had to immigrate to wester Aryabart area of modern Iran (Iran means "land of Aryans") to Tarim basin.
• It was in these regions, where the fertile soil of the mountainous country is surrounded by the Turanian desert, that the prophet Zarathushtra(Zoroaster) was said to have been born and gained his first adherents. Avestan, the language of the oldest portions of the Zoroastrian Avesta, was once called "old-iranic" which is related to Sanskrit.
• Chandravansi known as Sythians ( Jats and Rajputs) and Suryabanshiknown as Guzar by Tibbetian , Yuezhi by Chineese , Tocharian by Romans and Tushara by Indians, currently known as Gurjar in India and Gujjar in Pakistan
Formation of Kushana Empire• In 176 BC, the Yuezhi were driven from Tarim Besin to
westward by the Xiongnu, a fierce people of Magnolia.• The Yuezhi under the leadership of the Kushanas came down
from Central Asia and swept away all earlier dynasties of the Northwest in a great campaign of conquest. They established an empire which extended from Central Asia right down to the eastern Gangetic basin.
• In Bactria, they conquered the Scythians and the local Indo-Greek kingdoms, the last remnants of Alexander the Great's invasion force that had failed to take India.
• From this central location, the Kushan Empire became a wealthy trading hub between the peoples of Han China, Sassanid Persia and the Roman Empire.
• Roman gold and Chinese silk changed hands in the KushanEmpire, at a very tidy profit for the middle-men.
Kushana Empire Map
Gurjars are Purest Aryans• Gurjars are purest form of aryans as the survey depicts. All the
details are given in the book The People Of India By Herbert Risley, W. Crooke.
• The classification in general use is - leptorrhine (fine nose) if the nasal index is < 70, mesorrhine is it is between 70-85 and platyrrhine (broad-nosed) if it is > 85.
• The Indo-Aryan is comparable to the European, fopr the French of Paris have a nasal index of 69.4 as measurd by Topinard [ Ris 28-9 ].
• According to Sir H.H.Risley, the nose of Sudras is very similar to that of the lowest Negro types.
• The nasal index frequently reaches more than 100. The Paniyans of Malabar have an average nasal index of 95, while certain individual Kadias of Tamil Nad measured 115.
Nasal Index of Gurjars is lowest , which means minimum mixing of
non Aryan Blood• No. Tribe Nasal Index Nasal Type
1. Gurjar 66.9 Leptorrhine2. Sikh and Jat 68.8 Leptorrhine3. Brahman (Bengal) 70.3 Sub-Leptorrhine4. Kayasth (Bengal) 70.3 Sub-Leptorrhine5. Rajput 71.6 Sub-Leptorrhine6. Vellala 73.1 Sub-Platyrrhine7. Brahman (Bihar) 73.2 Sub-Leptorrhine8. Brahman (Bhojpur) 74.6 Sub-Leptorrhine9. Tamil Brahman 76.7 Sub-Leptorrhine10. Vaisya (Bania) 79.6 Sub-Leptorrhine
Aryan Practice : Khaps• Khap is generally a unit of 12 villages or multiple of 12 i.e. 24,
60 or 84 villages of a particular clan or gotra of tribe or caste. Khaps are generally found in North western India, among Gurjara, Jats and Rajputs.
• Famous historian R S Sharma ascribes the formation of these units of 12 villages or its multiples to the Gurjara Pratihara’s or their feudatories rule in North Western India during the early medieval period. He says what distinguished the Gurjara Pratihara polity from that of contemporary Rastrakutas and Palas was the imposition of clan aristocracies on old, settled villages. He further says that Gujar imposed themselves as dominant clans on settled villages.
Source : Research Article of Dr. Sushil Bhati
• The tribal practice that spoils should be distributedamong the members of the tribe led to theapportionment of villages among the conqueringchiefs, some of them received them in units of 84.
• It implies that Khaps constitute the clan aristocraciesof Gurjara Pratihara empire system or polity.
• It also implies that Jat clans formed the bulk ofGurjara Pratihara army along the clans of leadingGurjara tribe. Arab traveler Al Masudi informs in hisbook ‘Muruz-ul-zahab’ that Gurjara Pratihara hadfour armies, each having 7 to 9 lakhs soldiers. Suchvast army of around 28-36 lakhs men is only possibleif all such clan aristocracies imposed on old, settledvillages are included in it.
• The upper doab of Ganga and Yamuna comprises the Modern district of Saharanpur, Haridwar, Shamli, Muzaffarnagar, Baghpat, Meerut, Hapur, Ghaziabad, Bulandshahar and Gautam Budh Nagar.
• The Trans Yamuna region of East Delhi also fall in the upper doab.Some major khaps of Upper Doab of Ganga and Yamuna are as follows-
1. ‘Khubar’ Panwar Khap of Gurjaras comprising of 84 villages in Saharanpur district.
2. Butar Khap of Gurjaras comprising of 52 villages in Saharanpur district. 3. Chokker khap of Gurjaras comprising of 24 villages in Saharanpur
district.4. Kalsian Chauhan Khap of Gurjaras comprising of 84 Villages in
Khandhla- Kairana area in shamli district.5. Baliyan Khap of Jats comprising of 84 villages in Shamli- Muzaffarnagar
area.6. Malik Khap of Jats comprising of 45 villages in Shamli-Muzaffarpur area.7. Rajput khap of 24 villages in Sardhana area of Meerut district.
8. Tomar Khap of Rajputs comprising of 12 Villages in Meerut
9. Bhadana Khap of Gurjaras comprising of 12 villages in Meerut
10. Chaprana Khap of Gurjaras comprising of 12 villages in Meerut-Baghpat area
11. Huna Khap of Gurjaras comprising of 12 villages in Meerut-Hapur area
12. Salaklain khap of Jats comprising of 84 villages in Baghpat district.
13. Bainsla Khap of Gurjaras comprising of 12 villages.14. Kasana khap of Gurjaras comprising of 12 villages15. Ahir khap of 24 villages in Bulanshahar district.
16. Bhati khap of Gurjaras comprising of 360 villages in Gautam Budh Nagar. 360 seem to be traditional figure as we have only around 100 villages of this clan. In Medieval times Kaasnaaand Dadri were their seats of power. 7 villages of Bhati Rajputs are also found along with this group in Gautam Budh Nagar district.
17. Nangdi Khap of Gurjaras comprising of 24 villages in Gautam Budh Nagar
18. Tomar Rajput Khap of 24 Villages in Dhaulanaarea of Ghaziabad.
19. Dedha Khap of Gurjaras comprising of 24 villages in East Delhi.
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